As continental neighbors and partners committed to democratic government,
the rule of law and respect for individual rights and freedoms, Canada,
Mexico and the United States have shared interests in keeping North America
secure, prosperous, and competitive in today's global environment. We met
in New Orleans to discuss how we might collaborate further to achieve these
goals, as well as to discuss our hemispheric and global interests and
concerns.

The Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), based on the principle that
security and prosperity depend on each other, is a useful mechanism that
helps us to identify and pursue practical solutions to shared challenges in
North America in a way that respects our individual and sovereign
interests. We each remain open and accountable to our own people.

The SPP complements the success of the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA), which has helped to triple trade since 1993 among our three
countries to a projected $1 trillion in 2008. NAFTA has offered our
consumers a greater variety of better and less expensive goods and
services, encouraged our businesses to increase investment throughout North
America, and helped to create millions of new jobs in all three countries.
NAFTA is key to maintaining North America's competitive edge in an
increasingly complex, fast-paced and connected global marketplace.

Our Ministers responsible for security and prosperity met in Los Cabos,
Mexico on February 27, 2008 to advance the five priority areas we
identified last year in Montebello. In New Orleans, we decided that our
Ministers should renew and focus their work in the following areas:

* To increase the competitiveness of our businesses and economies, we
are working to make our regulations more compatible, which will support
integrated supply chains and reduce the cost of goods traded within North
America. In the auto industry, for example, we are seeking to implement
compatible fuel efficiency regimes and high safety standards to protect
human health and the environment, and to reduce the costs of producing cars
and trucks for the North American market. We also are strengthening
efforts to protect our inventors, authors, performers and other innovators
by advancing our Intellectual Property Action Strategy. We have forged
stronger relationships to support more effective law enforcement efforts to
combat the trade of counterfeit and pirated goods.

* To make our borders smarter and more secure, we are coordinating
our long-term infrastructure plans and are taking steps to enhance
services, and reduce bottlenecks and congestion at major border crossings.
In this regard, we are working to coordinate the efforts of federal
agencies to enhance capacity at major border crossing points, such as
Detroit-Windsor and San Diego-Tijuana. We are deepening cooperation on
the development and application of technology to make our border both
smarter and more secure, as well as strengthen trusted traveler and shipper
programs. We will seek to allocate resources efficiently so as to avoid
unnecessary inspections. We are exploring new customs procedures, such as
a more uniform filing procedure, with the aim of reducing transactional
costs while enhancing the security of our borders. We are cooperating to
install advanced screening equipment at ports of entry to deter and detect
the smuggling of nuclear and radiological materials. The United States and
Canada are working to finalize a framework agreement to govern cross-border
maritime enforcement operations in shared waterways. All of these efforts
will help us more effectively facilitate the legal flow of people and goods
across our shared borders while addressing threats to our safety.

* To strengthen energy security and protect the environment, we are
seeking to develop a framework for harmonization of energy efficiency
standards, and sharing technical information to improve the North American
energy market. Together we intend to create an outlook for biofuels for
the region, work to enhance our electricity networks, and make more
efficient use of our energy through increasing fuel efficiency of our
vehicles. Building on the gains in technology over the last 5 years, we
are exchanging information and exploring opportunities for joint
collaboration to further reduce barriers to expanding clean energy
technologies, especially carbon dioxide capture and storage to mitigate
greenhouse gas emissions. We are working to better North America's air
quality and working together to improve the safety of chemicals in the
marketplace.

* To improve our citizens' access to safe food, and health and
consumer products in North America, we are increasing cooperation and
information sharing on the safety of food and products. We are working to
strengthen our respective regulatory and inspection systems to protect
consumers, while maintaining the efficient flow of food and products among
our three countries. We are working to make our food and product safety
standards more compatible. We are also working to improve continental
recall capacities and are engaging the private sector to ensure that our
efforts are complementary.

* To improve our response to emergencies, we are updating our
bilateral agreements to enable our local, State, Provincial, and Federal
authorities to help each other quickly and efficiently during times of
crisis and great need, including responding to threats posed by cyber or
chemical-biological attacks. We have made significant progress in
discussions for new bilateral emergency management agreements to help
manage the movement of goods and people across the border during and after
an emergency. We will explore ways to expand cooperation in North America
to the trilateral level.

Our efforts in these areas have been informed by the insights of interested
parties, in particular the North American Competitiveness Council (NACC),
representatives from the business community who have helped us identify and
develop solutions to the most pressing issues affecting North American
competitiveness.

Our citizens represent the true promise and potential of North America.
Our governments help best when they act to promote the conditions necessary
for the liberty, safety and success of our people. We believe that we
should continue and strengthen our regular dialogue and ongoing
cooperation. The partnership among Canada, Mexico and the United States
is broader than the sum of our many bilateral and trilateral activities.
We share the goals of strengthening democratic governance and reducing
barriers to trade within our region and beyond. We also share a common
purpose to strengthen our hemispheric institutions and consultative
processes.

We will continue working to fight transnational threats that pose
challenges to our countries and to the well being of our people, such as
organized crime; trafficking in arms, people, and drugs; smuggling;
terrorism; money laundering; counterfeiting; and border violence. The
transnational nature of these threats makes it imperative that our domestic
efforts be complemented and strengthened by our cooperation together, and
in international fora.

We reiterate our support for the Bali Action Plan and stress the urgency of
reaching agreement to ensure the full, effective and sustained
implementation of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change now, up
to and beyond 2012. We believe that the Major Economies Leaders Meeting
should make a contribution to that outcome. All should redouble efforts
to address climate change and to establish nationally appropriate programs
and goals to be reflected in binding international commitments based on the
principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective
capabilities, to contribute to ensuring global greenhouse gas emission
reductions, adaptation measures, energy security, and sustainable
development. We are determined to work together to further explore
regional cooperation in climate change efforts, including, but not limited
to, advancing innovative and suitable clean energy technologies, building
the capacity to adopt and deploy them and developing appropriate financial
and technical instruments . We reaffirm our shared conviction that
increased trade in environmental goods, services, and technologies can have
a positive impact on global climate change efforts and encourage the
removal of barriers to such trade.

We welcome the invitation of President Calderón to host the next meeting of
North American leaders in 2009.